Black Turks

Not to be confused with Afro-Turks.

Black Turks (Turkish: Kara Türkler or Siyah Türkler) is a socio-economic term used to describe Turks who are a lower or middle income class. They are described as religious and traditional in contrast to the more secularized class of their country.^[1]

Religious/conservative Turks celebrate religious holiday "Kurban Bayramı" (Eid al-Adha) in Gölköy in 2005

Their contrasting social economic groups has been the White Turks who have run the politics of their society and attempted to restrict the religious lifestyle which has led to cultural conflicts in the country.^[2]

Another class of Turks that has been described has been one that has characteristics of both classes known as the Grey Turks.^[3]

The term was also used by 2018 presidential candidate Muharrem İnce to describe himself, claiming that Erdoğan was no longer a black Turk.^[4]

See also

• Religion in Turkey
• Islam in Turkey
• Erdoğanism
• Freedom of religion in Turkey
• Conservatism in Turkey

Further reading

• Yücel, Halime. "Cultural identity in Turkish advertisements." Social Semiotics 31.2 (2021): 305-323.
• DEMIRALP, SEDA. “White Turks, Black Turks? Faultlines beyond Islamism versus Secularism.” Third World Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 3, 2012, pp. 511–24. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41507184. Accessed 2 Jan. 2025.